FanNation

In ugliness, there is beauty (and other tales)

   A few thoughts at 1 a.m., as Barak Obama keeps the ball on the ground and Hillary Clinton burns her last timeout:

   * Just when you thought it didn't get uglier than the Democratic presidential campaign, along came Game 1 of the Celtics-Cavaliers series. Boston suffers through three long cold streaks. LeBron James manages just 12 points, and Paul Pierce counters with four. I could rebuild my garage with all the bricks both teams chucked. It came to Kevin Garnett finally making a big shot with 21 seconds left and big contributions off the Celtics' bench: Sam Cassell hitting two treys early in the fourth quarter and grabbing a big rebound down the stretch, and James Posey's two clinching free throws and plus-17 (love this new stat stolen from the NHL) in 25 minutes.

How Green was your panic?

   Yes, the Celtics were the only higher-seeded team that needed to go to a seventh game in Round 1. But after today, one really has to wonder what the panic was all about.

   As it turned out, this series was about an upstart Atlanta Hawks team that played over its heads for three games at home, and didn't look ready for prime time in any of the four games in Boston.

   The most telling statistic: the Hawks led for less than five minutes in the four Boston games, more than half of it coming today. Garbage time came early to the TD Banknorth Garden the past two weeks.

Celtic blues

   Perhaps it came too easy...clinching the NBA's best record with two weeks left, resting the regulars, and winning the first two playoff games on autopilot.

   Wa-aaaaa-aaaaa-A-A-aaaake up, Celtics - you're life or death with a jobber team you've allowed to believe has a chance of beating you. You better respond tomorrow the way the Pistons did tonight against Philly in a similar situation.

   One Atlanta victory, we can understand. The Hawks should be allowed one big effort, and the Celts one flat night. But tied 2-2?

Patriot values

   It's a weekend Patriots fans will have to trust Scott Pioli. The selection of Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo with the 10th overall pick yesterday was greeted at Agganis Manor with a resounding WTF? After all, I hadn't seen him in the first round of virtually any mock draft I'd read.

   Upon further review, however...he came out late after his junior year, he had a good combine, and he may be the football equivalent of an undervalued stock. Hopefully, the Pats landed a young Tedy Bruschi while dropping three spots to upgrade two rounds (and parlaying the Saints' third-rounder into San Diego's second-rounder next year).

My remote finger's itchy

   A few thoughts while I ice the fatigued digit:

   * It's a shame the Red Sox and Yankees don't play each other again til Fourth of July weekend. As is usually the case in April, Boston got the better of it, but there's now 2 1/2 months to stew on the beanball Kyle Farnsworth threw at Manny Ramirez last night after Manny was Manny Going Deep twice. Granted, it wasn't as egregious as the two Joba Chamberlain fired behind Kevin Youkilis' skull last August, but it's kind of fun to keep the Yankees on edge, not knowing when the retaliation was coming. Given the way they pitched in Wednesday night's 15-9 mess, Julian Tavarez or Mike Timlin could've been brought in for the job.